Sunil Gavaskar Leaves Out Team India As He Picks His Favorite To Win The ICC World Cup 2023

Former India cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan have picked their favourites for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023. The highly-anticipated ODI World Cup is scheduled to get underway next week.

The tournament will be played from October 5 to November 19 in India. Reigning world champions England and New Zealand will be up against each other in the tournament opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The games will be played across ten venues – Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala and Lucknow.

A total of ten teams – India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Netherlands – are participating in the competition. While India have co-hosted the tournament thrice in the past, they are hosting it alone for the very first time.

Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan reveal their favourites:

The upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 is going to be highly competitive since a number of teams are strong contenders to win the competition. Apart from hosts India, the likes of England, Australia, Pakistan and New Zealand are also in contention, Not many would also boast against the likes of South Africa and Sri Lanka while teams such as Bangladesh and Afghanistan are also more than capable of beating any team on their day.

And with the tournament now just a handful of days away from getting underway, Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan have picked their favourites. During a show on Star Sports, the former cricketers were asked to pick between India and reigning champions England.

In reply, Sunil Gavaskar went with England, saying: “Defending champions England because of the kind of talent that they have at the top of the batting order. They have got two or three world-class allrounders who can change the game with both bat or ball and they have got a very good bowling lineup, experienced lineup.”

On the other hand, Irfan Pathan picked India as his favourite, saying: “I am very excited to see how India performs. I really think they are one of the favourites for sure especially because (of the way they played in the) past couple of series.

“The Asia Cup and the way India played against Australia as well in the home conditions. They ticked all the boxes. They have players who are performing well,” said Irfan Pathan before highlighting that Mohammed Shami not getting a chance in the playing eleven is proof of India’s solid bench strength.

#SunilGavaskar & @IrfanPathan call out their favourites to win the #CWC2023 ?

Who do you think will go all the way and attain the #GreatestGlory, #India or #England? ?#Cricket pic.twitter.com/IylpT2syND

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 29, 2023